The Big West Women’s Tennis Player of the Year and two of the nation’s top tandems begin play in the NCAA Singles and Doubles Championship which commence Wednesday and Thursday at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex in Athens, Ga.

Melounova, ranked No. 70 nationally in the Oracle/Intercollegiate Tennis Association singles poll, takes on No. 16-ranked Rachel Pierson of Texas A&M on Wednesday at 11:30 a.m. (PT). She is the second Rainbow Wahine tennis player to participate in the women’s singles championship, joining teammate Cindy Nguyen who competed in 2014 and 2015.

Melounova helped the Rainbow Wahine win the Big West regular season championship with an 8-0 record, as she won her final 13 matches to finish 13-1 in dual play. She is just the third individual in Big West history to be named Freshman of the Year and Player of the Year in the same season.

A Melounova win sets up a second round matchup against the winner of Oklahoma’s Lily Miyazaki and LSU’s Joana Valle Costa on Thursday.

UCSB is represented in the women’s doubles tournament for the second straight year as Dubavets and Baker will battle LSU’s Valle Costa and Ryann Roster. In 2016, Dubavets teamed with Stefani Stojic at the NCAA’s.

The Dubavets/Baker tandem is ranked No. 53 by the ITA. Valle Costa and Foster are ranked No. 16. Match time on Thursday is 1:00 p.m. (PT). Dubavets and Baker own a 7-3 record together in dual matches this year. A win would lead to a second round matchup against either Texas A&M Pierson and Rutuja Bhosale or UT Arlington’s Astrid Gehre and Anna Wichert.

Mays and Freund represent UCSB’s first men’s doubles entry into the NCAA Championship since 1992 when David Decret and Laszlo Markovits competed.

A pair of first team All-Big West selections in doubles, Freund and Mays rose as high as No. 6 in the country in the ITA rankings, and enter the postseason at No. 35. They will face third-seeded Johannes Ingildsen and Alfredo Perez of Florida in Thursday’s first round at 10:30 a.m. (PT).

Freund and Mays are 10-5 in dual matches at the No. 1 position in the Gaucho lineup this year.

An upset victory would give Freund and Mays an opportunity to play either Juan Benitez and Will Little of Baylor or Tommy Bennett and David Warren of Rice in the second round.